Tibet Weekly Update – June 5, 2015

 

Alarm at repressive new laws in China on counter-terror, security and NGOs

Chinese draft laws on security, counter-terrorism and non-governmental organizations that move closer to implementation this week constitute a further and more serious threat to freedom of religion and expression and deepen repression in an already restrictive political climate. The new measures, which have caused alarm in the international community, broaden the reach of the Party state still further, contracting the space for civil society.


 

Tibetan mother who self-immolated wrote note calling for long life of Dalai Lama

Before she set herself on fire, Sangye Tso, 36, had written: “Long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama, where is the Panchen Lama, and freedom for Tibetans,” according to a Tibetan source. The same source said that she displayed a photograph of the Dalai Lama and lit incense before it at the site of her self-immolation, which was outside a government and police building.


 

“Soccer Nuns”

The BBC has released a full-length program on the Snow Lionesses, the Tibetan women’s soccer team. They’re struggling to advance and achieve international recognition in the face of resistance from FIFA, China, and the objections of some Tibetans. For more on Tibetan soccer teams in exile, also see the 2003 documentary The Forbidden Team.


 

RFA: China rewards ‘peaceful’ Tibetan monasteries with large payments

Payments of up to 50,000 yuan are being made to monasteries whose monks refrain from protesting Chinese rule, according to Radio Free Asia. These payments, whose acceptance has been denounced by some local Tibetan communities, stand in contrast to the “patriotic re-education classes’ which await monasteries linked to protests or demonstrations. For more, please see the RFA story.